Being Open to Life Through Adoption

Being Open to Life Through Adoption

Being open to life does not always look the way a couple first imagines.

Some families welcome children through pregnancy and birth. Others walk through infertility, waiting, paperwork, unknowns, and eventually receive a child through adoption.

In this special episode of The Catholic Money Show, Jonathan Teixeira joins Mark Swartzberg on Relevant Radio to talk about adoption, fatherhood, and what it means to receive children as a gift from God.

Jonathan and Amanda’s family has grown through infant adoption five times. Early in their relationship, they had talked about adoption without knowing how much that openness would later shape their family. Over time, what began as a possibility became the path God used to make them parents.

Adoption Is Not a Lesser Form of Parenthood

One common misunderstanding about adoption is the idea that adopted children are somehow less “your own.”

Jonathan speaks plainly about that. His children are his children.

Adoptive parenthood is not pretend parenthood, second-tier parenthood, or a consolation prize after infertility. Instead, it is a real and complete form of family life. A child welcomed through adoption truly belongs.

As Catholics, we should recognize this language. The Church often speaks of adoption because, through Christ, God brings us into His family. He does not keep us at a distance as outsiders. He gives us a real place in His household and a real inheritance.

Because of that, the Catholic faith can help us understand the dignity of adoptive family life. Adoption is relational, permanent, and deeply meaningful, not merely legal.

When Infertility Becomes Part of the Story

Jonathan shared that they deal with what appears to be permanent infertility. That reality became part of their path toward adoption.

Infertility can bring grief, disappointment, and confusion. Many couples imagine one path to parenthood and then find themselves walking another. As a result, they may need time to pray, grieve, talk honestly, and ask what God is inviting them to do next.

For Jonathan and Amanda, adoption became the way their family grew.

That does not mean adoption erases the ache of infertility. It also does not mean every couple experiencing infertility must adopt. Each family needs prayer, honesty, and wise counsel.

Still, adoption can become a beautiful response to the call to be open to life.

The Moment a Child Becomes Yours

Jonathan also shared the story of their youngest son, Peter. Unlike some of their other adoption experiences, Peter had already been born when Jonathan and Amanda first heard about his situation.

When they received his picture, Jonathan said he knew.

He did not need a long argument in that moment. He saw the photo and recognized something in his heart: this child was meant to be theirs.

Many adoptive parents understand that kind of moment. Love does not always arrive in the same order. Sometimes a child is born, a call comes, a picture appears, a family moves quickly, and the heart understands before everything else catches up.

Saint Joseph and Adoptive Fatherhood

Catholics have a powerful model for adoptive fatherhood in Saint Joseph.

Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father, yet he was truly His father on earth. He protected Him, provided for Him, taught Him, led Him, and received Him as his son.

That matters for adoptive fathers.

Fatherhood does not come down to biology alone. Biology has meaning, but fatherhood also includes love, sacrifice, authority, responsibility, protection, formation, and daily fidelity.

Therefore, an adoptive father does not stand at the edge of the family. He enters fully into the work of fatherhood and says yes to the child God has placed before him.

First Steps for Couples Discerning Adoption

For couples considering adoption, Jonathan’s advice is simple and practical.

First, begin with prayer. Bring the desire, fear, uncertainty, and questions to God. Adoption is too important to treat as a mere project or backup plan, so it deserves real discernment.

Next, talk honestly with your spouse. Both husband and wife need room to name what they think and feel. One spouse may feel ready sooner. The other may need more time, more information, or more reassurance.

Then, talk with adoptive families.

Jonathan encouraged couples not to be timid about asking questions. Many adoptive parents gladly share their experience because they know how overwhelming the process can feel at the beginning. They can talk about paperwork, waiting, emotions, practical challenges, and the graces they have seen along the way.

Those conversations can remove some of the mystery. They can also help a couple move from a vague idea of adoption to a clearer next step.

Adoption Requires Real Openness

Being open to life through adoption is not sentimental.

Adoption can involve waiting, disappointment, expenses, legal steps, emotional risk, travel, and a great deal of trust. Sometimes a family waits for months. Sometimes a situation comes together quickly. At times, the answer is yes. At other times, the door closes.

That uncertainty can feel hard.

However, openness to life has always required trust.

Whether a family grows biologically or through adoption, children are not possessions to acquire. They are persons to receive.

Adoption invites a couple to remain open to the child God may be placing before them, even when the path feels unfamiliar.

Supporting Adoptive Families

Not everyone is called to adopt, but every Catholic community can support adoptive families more intentionally.

A good place to begin is with language.

Questions like “Which children are your own?” may come from curiosity, but they can still wound. Adopted children are not less “own” than biological children. Instead, we can honor the family as a family and let parents share details as they choose.

Support can also become practical. Meals, prayers, encouragement, financial help, listening without prying, and welcoming adopted children without treating them as a curiosity all matter.

Adoption is a family vocation. At the same time, the wider Church can surround adoptive families with love.

God Builds Families in Different Ways

Every family story is different.

Some couples welcome children biologically. Some welcome children through adoption. Some experience both. Others carry the cross of infertility without being called to adopt, and many couples continue to discern what God is asking of them.

The goal is not for every Catholic family to look the same.

Instead, each family is called to listen to God, receive children as gifts, and respond generously to the vocation He has placed before them.

For Jonathan and Amanda, being open to life has meant adoption. Their children are not plan B. They are their children.

That is the beauty of adoption.

It reveals that God can build families through biology, but also through love, commitment, sacrifice, and grace.

This article is based on Jonathan Teixeira’s conversation with Mark Swartzberg on Relevant Radio’s The Mark Swartzberg Show.